Neon Lights
by ShineJobFledgling
Summary: “Riddick, she got a message out to me. She needs help. You need to go help her.” It's what Imam said to get Riddick to go find Jack... She didn't go to Lupus 5 to become a merc, but she's going to end up in a slam anyway if she isn't careful...
1. Freemont

Okay, so this isn't the first Fanfiction I've ever written, (I've actually written a few I just haven't put any on the net in a long time) it is however the first I've put one up on FF net and it's also the first Pitch Black/TCOR fanfiction I've written though.

So yeah... if you want review do whatever...

Oh and a note on the fanfiction itself, the Necromongers aren't around yet (if I even put them in).

(Disclamer: All Pitch Black/TCOR characters and whatnot belong to their owners, respectively, and not me.)

ooo

_"Riddick, she got a message out to me. She needs help. You need to go help her."_

That plea was the only reason he was on this god forsaken planet. It was nothing but a seedy little resort planet, it normally wouldn't have anything he wanted, except for maybe brothels, but you could find those anywhere it you turned your head the right way. Still other than that there was nothing but a bunch of neon and casino's littering the place and Riddick had recognized more mercs then he cared to admit he knew.

Then again the Freemont planet was one of the oldest resort planets in this particular system, and as things got older they tended to get worse, started slipping under the radar. As cops got sick of going out they got easier to bribe, it was easier to torment the hard working citizens then. Sure once upon a time some bigwig had big plans for the planet, more hotels then you could shake a stick at, more casinos, all more extravagant then the last. Well they got some of them up, but eventually plans stopped, buildings were left for people to fight over who would finish them while the bigwig went off to other bigger ventures.

At least that was the story…

Now Freemont and all of its sectors were just old news. Dirty business men, mercs, and people down on their luck used the place as a meeting spot or just refused to believe that the saying, "the house always wins" applied to the old buildings. The only ones who actually lived on the planet were either rich mobsters, or gangsters, or people too poor to get back off the planet once they got on it.

All of this just made Riddick wonder why his Jack had ended up on the rock. One would think that she would have given up on death trap planets, even if this one didn't have flesh eating monsters. Still, Imam couldn't tell him why Jack was there after he had shown up in the holy man's house. Riddick had been pissed, and had left to come here only after he had left Imam thoroughly scared for his life. It took the man three years to figure out that, just maybe, he should have told Riddick Jack had left, but no, only after Jack had to ask for help did Imam get off his ass to do something. Riddick had to leave back then, he had mercs on his neck, and he couldn't take the kid, the girl with big green eyes that tried to pass herself off as a boy, with him. It just wouldn't have worked.

On the thought of Jack though Riddick was sure she wouldn't look like that anymore, but he had to save her ass again, nonetheless. This time she would be old enough to come with him though, and he would bring her with him. She would come with him kicking and screaming if need be, because Riddick wasn't going to leave her to run off and get in trouble again. Hopefully she would come quietly and willing, but Jack had always been unpredictable.

So Riddick slipped though the crowd, he would have to find information on the runaway first, as Imam couldn't tell him what she looked like either. The message had been nothing more than an audio message. What she sent it out of must have just been a telephone, or a videophone with a broken cam. This left him to check out the bars and the back alleys to look for people who knew of Jack.

Unless she just…popped up in front of him…

Riddick lifted his head, looking passed his welding goggles and the hood of the jacket he was wearing when he felt someone bump into him. A girl with long curling hair had bushed passed him, and he watched as she pocketed a UD card that he had just lifted from someone else himself. This girl looked back over her shoulder, running her green eyes over him before they both stopped suddenly. Her jaw went slack, and Riddick knew those eyes could only belong to one person just as she knew that there was only one man out there like him. Even if she couldn't see his shined eyes…

When reality caught back up with them Jack snapped her mouth shut and bolted into the crowd, and away from Riddick. She ran before she really knew what she was doing, pushing through crowds and groups of people to get away from her past. All Jack had seen from behind had been a prime candidate for lifting some cash, baggie clothes if not a little too built if she got caught by him. It wouldn't have been the first bout of bruises if she got caught, the first rash of cuts and scrapes though.

Jack hadn't known it was Riddick, she didn't think that Riddick would ever come to this planet of all places, no matter how dirty. As she ran from him it still stumped her, she hadn't talked to anyone from her past in so long… She could hear the shouts of people being pushed out of the way by both her and Riddick behind her. He was probably having a rougher time getting through because he was bigger and people didn't seem to just want to part like the red sea for him. Jack knew she owed the fact that she wasn't over his shoulder (or knee) to their size difference, and was for once glad she was a scrawny thing of a girl.

She dreaded it, but Jack burst out of the crowd, narrowly avoiding a vender with a cart full of trinkets, and then up to and through the doors of a casino by the name of Oasis. It would draw so much attention to them, but she couldn't take the time to run around buildings, she couldn't take the chance that Riddick would do something tricky and get in front of her, or get closer… So now waitresses in clothes that should have been bathing suits, and people just standing in the way shrieked as Jack navigated the maze of slot machines. Shining lights whizzed by her eyes as she kept moving, ignoring the crashing noises behind her that over took the beeps and clangs of the slots, and even an overly friendly blackjack dealer at a table not far away yelling, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner".

Eventually a door that had a red exit sign above it finally showed up in front of her and Jack nearly sighed in relief as she shoved it open. Still she didn't get three feet out the door before she found herself unable to move forward. A steel band of an arm came around her, and Jack merely slammed into it before being crushed back into a solid chest while the door slammed behind them.

"Let me go!" Jack growled as she struggled, trying to elbow Riddick with enough power to get him to let her go. Even if he just loosened up enough so she could slip away, she'd be satisfied, but he just put his other arm around her and tightened his grip making it hard to breath. Jack coughed as she tried to yell at him some more as he pulled her feet up off the ground, but what really got her to stop was the growl that sounded behind her. She could feel it vibrate through his chest to her back and it made her go still.

"What the fuck is the matter with you Jack?" Riddick demanded as he held her still. "You called Imam for help, and he sent me to help you. Just stay still and let me get you the hell off this rock."

"I didn't call anyone for any fucking help! Especially not Imam!" Jack yelled as she tried to kick back at him. It seemed to be the wrong thing to do though because Riddick grabbed her shoulders and spun her around to face him before he slammed her into the wall across from them. The air left her lungs in a rush and she almost missed what he said next as he jerked her arms above her head by use of her wrists.

"I don't know Jack, you've obviously lost it and that transmission sounded a hell of a lot like your voice does now," Riddick growled at the teenager in front of him. Before he could go on, or Jack could say anything either, Riddick had a shiv out and pointed at someone who had come up beside them. It was like they came out of nowhere, but when their feet started hitting the pavement he heard them, and stopped them from getting too close though no blood was spilt.

"Tasha get your ass back inside," Jack growled at the younger girl after she saw who it was, and that she had almost run herself into one of Riddick's shivs. "I'll be in, in a minute. Just as soon as Riddick get's it through his thick skull that I _didn't _call for help!"

"She didn't…" Tasha ended up saying quietly, stopping the two in front of her from yelling at each other some more. When Riddick's blank gaze, and Jacks glare landed on her she stumbled over what she wanted to say, and stammered, "I… I did. Jack couldn't do it herself."


	2. The Hacker, and the Troll

(Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or anything else from Pitch Black/TCOR, never will and it's a shame.)

Please review and tell me how I'm doing, other then that enjoy.

ooo

Jack's new "home" was the basement of a hotel; it had generators and pipes running everywhere. The only light was supplied from a few over head lights that all looked like they were going to go out at any second, at the same time to leave them in utter darkness, and a little lamp that sat in a large open area that Riddick guessed was supposed to be a living room for the group. The room had beanbags sporting duck tape patches, a couch that looked comfortable enough (though it might have been an allusion caused by the blanket draped over it) and a few other chairs, nothing in the room seemed to match though.

Now Jack had stormed passed this area and behind a makeshift wall that was made out of what probably use to be a bed sheet that was covered in some graffiti that claimed their home was called The Den. Riddick followed after her taking in everything, and was only slightly surprised to see a rather large multi-screened com, even if it looked like it some of it was older then Riddick himself. He was even less surprised when he found that Tasha girl sitting in front of it.

"You used that voice altering device and called Imam, to ask for help for me! ...As me! Did Pip put you up to it? You do know that he just wants to get rid of me, right, Tasha?" Jack seethed as she reached around the girl, who couldn't have been older then fourteen and shut everything down. After she finished, all that sat on the screens were multiple backgrounds, and Tasha was playing with a few strands of her light blond hair as Jack turned the chair around to face her. "How did you even know you had the right guy? You could have been babbling to some loser who couldn't do anything."

"You looked him up once, I saw…" Tasha said as she let go of her hair and instead started to play with the hem of the dingy pink top she was wearing. When she saw Riddick over Jack's shoulder though she smiled lightly and waved at him. However she instantly sobered up when she saw that Jack glared even more venomously at her for the action.

"Don't go getting hero worship over him; he'll just leave you," Jack growled as she crossed her arms over her chest and shifted a bit so, she hoped, she blocked the man from view. After a second she added under her breath, "Believe me I know."

"How'd you know you had the right guy if she only looked him up once?" Riddick asked out of pure curiosity, ignoring that they were just talking about him, in front of him. He didn't move to see who he was talking to, after all there was no reason to venture any closer right now, it would only incite Jack to take longer and be even more irritable with him once he got to question her. "You could have made a mistake."

"Photographic memory," Tasha and Jack answered at the same time. Tasha sounded happy, and quite proud of herself, and Jack, well Jack probably wished the girl had the memory span of a goldfish. Tasha however tried to go on and explain by saying, "I can recall im-"

"Don't bother, he knows," Jack said, knowing that Riddick probably did actually know how photographic memory worked, and if he didn't then he could look it up himself if he really wanted to know. "I want to know when exactly you did this, and I still want to know if Pip put you up to this."

"I called it out a few months ago... six… actually," Tasha said after she counted on her fingers for a moment. "You were really hurt, you practically slept for a week and we only ate twice… if you called it eating. Also, no, Pip thought we should throw you out on your ass because you weren't bringing in cash…"

"Six months… I… oh…" Jack muttered to herself drawing conclusions as to where she was and why she had basically been unconscious for so long. Once she focused back on the little blonde though Jack said firmly, "Fine, next time throw me out on my ass. Never, and I mean never call Imam to help me ever again, because obviously the Holy Man can't keep up anyway." When Tasha nodded, her brown eyes blinking once or twice Jack turned around and told her, "And if the troll calls rewire it back to the maintenance phone near my room."

Riddick watched as Jack moved back passed him, and then caught the girl wave at him again before he walked after the wayward girl. Once he came up beside her he raised a brow asking, "You have a room in this basement?"

"It's more or less a hole in the wall, but it got tedious calling it that after the first week or so," Jack grumbled as she walked back passed the door they came in through, and down some steps. "Still it's the biggest section that we marked off for sleeping; I got it because I got us the place. Tasha lives next door because she actually has the legit job in this building. Apparently hackers with photographic memories also make amazing mechanics and maintenance people."

"Interesting," Riddick grunted as he followed Jack passed another bed sheet, this one being used as a door. Inside was just a dim little space with a mattress that looked like it was on its last leg with pillows and blankets piled on it in one corner. In another sat a big gauge gun, and a sword, while the rest of it seemed to be blank with the exception of the pipes.

"See Riddick, I'm no worse off than when you left me in New Mecca, I'm just not there anymore. You can leave; go back to whatever godforsaken planet you were on before this." Jack said as she finally turned back to look at Riddick and take him in. He was still well muscled, though she doubted that would really ever change, and he still shaved his head though it looked like he hadn't done so in a while, and most of all he still had the welding goggles over his shined eyes. "If you had to leave me behind because there were mercs on your neck, odds are there still there, and on Freemont it's not going to change. It's just going to get worse actually, maybe just maybe some rich bastard that saw you and guessed, or knew your picture, will get a gun for hire to kill you to get the half bounty because they don't need the full to live on, but their just greedy anyway."

"No, you_ are_ worse off then you were in New Mecca, I saw Imam's house," Riddick growled at her and pulled off his goggles to stare her down. "You were there for two years, I know you guys moved in there not long after I left. Why the fuck would you run from that?"

Jack turned her head from his shined eyes, the ones she wanted so badly when she first saw them, and stopped herself from looking when she heard him shed the bulky duster he had been wearing and threw it on the floor somewhere. There was no use in getting all comfortable with him, let him get easy on her eyes again, she was sure that he was just going to leave, or worse…

"Come on Jack, you have five seconds to answer my question before I just throw you over my shoulder and walk you back to my ship whether you like it or not." Riddick demanded as he stalked closer to her. He looked down to find her in some close fitted cargos, khaki, and a grey tank. She filled out a little, just right for her small frame. She definitely wasn't hiding the fact that she was a girl anymore even though she still seemed to be going by Jack…

"He was…" Jack trailed off as ringing sounded from somewhere just outside her room. "I have to get that," She insisted before she finally looked back at Riddick to make sure he wasn't going to block her path.

"Then get it," Riddick said shortly before he followed her back into the hall. She jogged a little ways over to a videophone before she hit a button and someone on the screen started yelling…

_"Girl, what have I told you about running through my casino like that?! I graciously give you some time off and all you do is lead some ape through my casino! Do you know what kind of damage that man did?"_

"You've said that I shouldn't, and no I don't know what damage he did Mr. Talish," Jack said in a low growl as she tried to ignore Riddick when he came to lean against the wall beside the videophone. She was at least thankful that he wasn't in the view of the camera. "Should I?" She asked as an afterthought before she ran her fingers through her hair.

_"He broke two slot machines, one customer's nose, and an employee's arm!" The man yelled, before he coughed like his lung was liable to come out. Then again after years of smoking it was probably ready to get out of that deathtrap of a body._

"Jack, tell him to hurry it up," Riddick said, if only to make things difficult for the girl because of how she was acting.

_The face of the squat man talking to her twisted down in to a confused frown before he asked, "Who was that?" Then after a second he took on the look of just another perverted old man as he asked, "Were you having sex, is that why you're flustered."_

"No I was not having sex, I don't know why you would think that," Jack said as she conveniently "forgot" to tell him who exactly was talking. Then again she wouldn't have had the chance even if she had, because the second she paused in talking Riddick moaned rather loudly from beside her. When she looked at him all he did was smirk haughtily at her.

"Come back 'ere Jack and finish my hand job," Riddick went on to say as he started slipping back down the hall to her room. He caught the blush that flared up on her cheeks then as her eyes went wide. Surprise suited her well.

_"Well, whatever you want to call what you, or someone else were doing," Mr. Talish said in an indulgent way that Jack hated, "I need you to go after that man you were running from and either take him out, or get him down to the pits so he can do a gauntlet." When Jack didn't answer him right away though he frowned saying, "Or if you don't do either then you can fight instead. You have until tomorrow night."_

"Well set the gauntlet up for B5 up to A2," Jack said before she looked down the hall to see that Riddick had at some point disappeared from sight, hopefully into her room or just off the planet all together. Either way she knew that she wasn't going to be able to kill him and that getting him into the pits was going to be almost just as hard. After a second though she looked back at the screen adding, "But set it up for twelve tonight instead, either I'll get him now, or not at all."

_"If you insist, but be there or I'll come after your friends," Mr. Talish said as he ran his hand over his thinning hair. "You're not the only hired gun I have on retainer. You've already cost me enough money."_

And with that the screen went blank and Jack sighed before she looked back down the hall. Riddick still wasn't in sight, so she moved sluggishly back towards her room. There were only so many outcomes to tonight, and Jack wasn't sure if she'd like any of them. It was like Riddick landing on Freemont had caused an earthquake, and she was just watching, waiting, to see if her world was just going to end…

Once she made it back into her room she looked around, but she only found Riddick when she looked towards her bed. He apparently found that it was a good place to lounge, and after piling some of the pillows behind him he sat back and did just that…

"That's my bed, get off," Jack insisted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Riddick merely cracked an eye open and looked her over with a silver eye before asking, "So, what is this pit thing? A fighting ring?"

"It's hell in a cage… wait why do you care?" Jack said, changing gears as she moved closer to him, not sure if she had the right idea running through her head. Surely… Riddick was not going to go down to the pits. It just wasn't like him, well the fighting was, but it had to be too risky after the display in the casino.

"Just wondering what you were doing tonight," Riddick said as he closed his eye again. "After all, this is your fuck up. Not mine."

_"I was right,"_ Jack thought,_ "it isn't like him."_

"You're the one who injured two people!" Jack yelled as she jabbed a finger in his direction. "This is all your fault!"

Apparently what Jack said was just the wrong thing to say to Riddick, because before she could really react she found herself being jerked forward. Not expecting it, she fell forward with no real resistance, and she crashed against Riddick's chest before he flipped their positions. When Jack was settled, when Riddick was done jerking her around, she found that she was staring up into Riddick's eyes. She didn't struggle, it was like he was pinning her there with just his eyes, that his one hand to her shoulder, and the almost magically produced shiv that was being held to her neck, was just coincidental.

"No Jack," Riddick growled down at her, "This one isn't on my head, it's on you. These are your own monsters Jack. I'll take you off the planet but this is not my fight."

Jack swallowed lightly, as Riddick pressed the knife to her throat a little to make his point, and to warn her against disagreeing with him. She knew on some level that he wouldn't kill her, that the shiv was to make his point, and only to make his point, but it still made her nervous nonetheless. Pain was no friend of hers; even if she could tolerate it better then some, maybe even most.

After a moment he put away the knife and rolled off of her, and onto his back next to her. "I'm taking you off this planet." He said after a moment and there was no movement next to him. He still didn't care what she thought; she was still coming with him.

"I have to fight," Jack said as she threw an arm over her eyes, like it was a successful block against the world. "You can't take me."

"I am going to take you off this planet, you have no say in that, but if you want to have yourself beaten up first, then I can wait," Riddick said with a shrug before he put his arms behind his head.

"I won't go back to New Mecca," Jack said as she removed her arm from her face, and leaned up on her arms to look at him. She just wouldn't… she couldn't live there the first time he left her there, and she doubted she could now.

"That's good because I don't intend to take you to New Mecca," Riddick said, his eyes closed and not looking at her. "I tend to only make mistakes once. New Mecca didn't work the first time, I really don't think it will work the second time."

Riddick would later insist to himself that he wasn't just being a selfish fuck.


	3. The Pits

Gasp! Two reviews! Cookies for them!

Saismaat, yeah I tend to jump around from following one person to another, but don't worry it should be mostly back and forth between Riddick and Jack... and at least I've finally stopped writing I when it's not in first person... If it should get too confusing (that goes for anyone reading this) just tell me and I'll try to cut down on it, or try to make it clearer for everyone.

LaisonFan2, yeah a possessive Riddick is my kind too! . . Actually I like most of my men that way.

(Disclaimer: Pitch Black/TCOR stuffs are not mine...)

ooo

Jack jumped back up onto her feet, glad to see that the other guy finally just stayed down. The announcer declared "Kyra" the winner after a few prolonged seconds and she moved over to a corner to slump down to the floor while they got the unconscious man out of the ring and produced the next one. Meaning she had ten or so minutes to sit down and breath before she had to go at it again with some other guy who had probably been resting up, until now. She still had two more fights till intermission, and she was beginning to regret setting up the fourteen fight gauntlet…

Maybe just for a crazy second, when she had been talking to Mr. Talish, she had thought Riddick would be doing this, and really any less probably would have been insulting to him. However, for her… fourteen fights was a brutal walk to blood loss, a concussion, and then, finally, unconsciousness…

Sure the first few went down easy enough for Jack, but they were starting to get better. They stopped underestimating her when she used third guy's bodyweight against him and sent him into one of the chain-link walls. Actually, as she looked up she noticed some blood covering a few links next to her, which had either been her meeting with the wall or the other guy. It didn't particularly matter though, or so Jack decided.

People were being generally loud around the ring and Jack wasn't concentrating enough to be able to tell if she was the underdog or the one people were picking for the win. She had been the underdog earlier but people were so prone to changing their minds… Still as Jack wiped some blood from her cheek she vaguely thought that people were also prone to changing their minds back…

As for Riddick he had been standing back in the shadows watching the fight on one of the big screens that sat above the ring. Tasha stood next to him, and occasionally behind him when the people around them got a little frisky. Every time "Kyra" took a hit the girl would whimper a little, and Riddick just rooted himself to his spot.

They were in the lower levels of the Oasis casino; it looked rightly dingy and rusted for a fighting ring. The casino upstairs looked in better shape when he had been running through it after Jack, but then again you had to enter through a back door and walk down two flights of stairs to get down to this area. Blood seemed to be the dominating smell in there but Riddick didn't really mind. It was the dirty little non-secret of the casino, The Pits. Really, if Jack hadn't been the one in the ring, this would probably have been his kind of place.

Tasha didn't look like she belonged there however, but Riddick didn't warn her away. If she wanted to ruin the innocence of her eyes then far be it for him to stop her. There was no way of knowing if the girl watched the fights regularly, anyway, and she wasn't Jack so he felt no need to protect her beyond keeping her from disappearing into the crowd to never been seen again. Tasha was still a kid after all.

She had tried to run towards the ring during the fourth fight when Jack flew into a wall in a way made the cage clatter, probably a little to loudly, but Riddick kept a hold of her arm, kept her from distracting Jack. (It was hard enough to think after you meet a fence and then the floor.) Now, a few fights later, Tasha looked up at him and insisted, "You need to do something!" Her brown eyes were pleading as they looked up into Riddick's goggles. "Go take her place! The troll will gladly let you take over. I just know it; some dude did it to save his brother. It was controversial, it got him more money he loved it."

"Not my fight," Riddick growled at her, as he looked away from the blonde. It went against him wanting to protect her, but Jack would learn. She didn't look in danger of dying, but the blood spilling down from a cut on her cheek did look particularly gory. Riddick figured that there was a possibility she was in danger of getting tetanus, but that was about it and she would be fine after a med shot from his ship.

"There are nine more fights!" Tasha yelled, frustrated, as she stomped her foot. It showed she was still actually a young teen despite her prodigy status. "Pick one and make it yours before she gets hurt again!"

Riddick stopped before he repeated himself and looked down at Tasha. "This is how she got hurt?" He asked his voice straining. They both knew he meant when Jack got hurt and Tasha called Imam. Riddick still didn't have the details on it but fourteen rounds in that cage was enough to give him a decent picture.

"Once you hit the A block fighters you get to use weapons. Jack will get a staff, but the other fighters can use whatever they want as long as it doesn't have a blade, mostly they'll use other staffs, wooden swords, some have clubs or bats. Then once A5 comes around she'll still have that staff if it doesn't break for some reason, but she'll be going up against shivs and swords mostly. Those fights are for five blood drawing hits, in the gauntlet she doesn't have to win, but she can't pass out." She paused for a second before adding, "Jack did okay last time until she hit A7 of her ten person gauntlet… the guy got her in the gut with some kind of staff with a metal ball on the top it ripped three already open wounds even wider." Tasha explained as she glared up at Riddick. Before he said anything, though, the announcer's voice came over the speakers.

"Next fight in the gantlet, Kyra against the A10 fighter, James, blunt weapons allowed. All bets are open and will close in five minutes." The announcer said with minimal enthusiasm. People came to The Pits for the fights, not the commentary. The announcer just introduced the fights, and opened and closed betting.

Riddick looked up as Jack pulled herself up onto her feet and took her weapon from an employee, who quickly scurried out of the cage. She stood there for a moment or two before a man walked in with a bat over his shoulder like he was going to hit a home run. It in no way comforted Riddick that Jack's head was probably going to be used as the ball. The fight wouldn't start until the announcer said, so when some guy, about Jack's age, walked up talking to Tasha he let his attention rest on the two next to him instead.

"Tash, what are you doing in here? We told you to stay out of The Pits!" The boy said as he grabbed onto the girl's arm, but Tasha merely pulled away and scooted closer to Riddick making him turn his attention to the older man and ask, "And who the fuck is he?"

"Pip, this is… Richard he's a friend of Jack's," Tasha said, remembering that she was supposed to call him by his first name, because it was less conspicuous then Riddick. After all there were only so many Riddicks running around, but there were more Richards then could be counted.

"Oh so you're Pip…" Riddick hummed as he sized the boy up. The kid to his credit had a decent build for someone who probably didn't eat often, and shaggy brown hair that hung down to his chin. His eyes were a sharp blue color, and Riddick almost disliked him on the spot.

"Yeah, I am what of it?" Pip asked as he wondered just what Jack was doing with friends like this guy here. Actually beyond Tasha, Pip didn't know how many people Jack actually considered a friend. Not even Gigi, one of the other girls that called The Den home, and the girl even grew on him after a while. Tasha just seemed way too smart, probably the reason Pip didn't trust her.

Pip didn't get an answer though as Riddick's attention was pulled to the screen above the ring by the announcer closing the bets, and starting the fight. It started out okay, some clips, and close calls. No one was really winning, until the A10 fighter got Jack in the back… She stumbled forward and lost her hold on her weapon. She tried to regain her footing, but failed and fell forward onto her hands and knees. Luckily, because of her fall, she missed being smacked in the head.

This sent Riddick's brain into hyper drive over his options. It didn't take long to pick one either. "Tasha do you know how to kill the lights down here?" Riddick asked suddenly though he didn't turn his goggled gaze toward the girl in the least. He heard a timid "sure" before he looked towards her then Pip. "Take her to kill the lights," then when they didn't move right away Riddick pulled up the hood on his jacket and growled, "Now!"

The two ran off before Riddick started to slip closer to the ring. Jack was back on her feet, but her dilemma seemed to be how to get her staff when it resided behind the man with the bat. Even worse was the moment she caught sight of Riddick her attention was torn in two. Riddick stopped at the barricade that kept five feet between the audience and the ring and his hands gripped the rail as his goggled gaze rested on the two fighting.

Jack's attention was thrown back to the fight when she found the bat coming towards her head. It missed, barely and she staggered back wondering what the Riddick was doing there. He had said that he was just going to stay at the den and wait for her to come back. Jack didn't even know that Riddick knew where this place was…

It all confused Jack, but she kept sliding back to keep out of reach of the bat. At least she was confused until the lights went out and she couldn't see anything. That was when she realized how Riddick got there, and what was happening. Tasha shut the lights off, and as the announcer wasn't saying anything to the yelling masses she figured that the power went to. This meant that Riddick was officially up to something…

Jack went to yell at Riddick, tell him that if she didn't continue her friends would be in danger. She didn't get a chance though as she felt something move in front of her face and found that the idiot from A10 was still trying to get her. She moved back more only to wince when her back hit the fence of a wall. She couldn't see anything in the dark but the happy noise from in front of her told her that James new she was in front of him.

She quickly ducked to the side hoping James would go the other way or just hit the wall. Not that it mattered, because her attention was pulled to the wall on the other side of the cage, where the door was. Jack pressed back farther into the corner saying, "No, tell Tasha to put the lights back on. I have to finish or we're all going to get in trouble.

Jack sucked in a breath when she heard that horrible noise of a body hitting the ground. She hated that limp noise that told you no one was home in that body. Being a hired gun didn't help it at all…

"Riddick… why won't you listen?" Jack breathed as she clamped her eyes shut against the darkness. It was no use to have her eyes open; she couldn't find Riddick in the darkness like he could find her. "I can't leave them." Jack said, trying her hardest to convince him. She knew that he was there, that he was listening to her. It was merely that he didn't care what she had to say at the given moment in time. Her thoughts were confirmed when she found herself being lifted over Riddick's shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes before he turned and walked away.

Jack struggled at first and even heard him grunt after she hit him particularly hard in the stomach with her knee. She only stopped when Riddick turned sharply and she hit someone whose only response was to elbow her in her shoulder none to gently. Jack actually thought about trying to get do again, but a growl followed by Riddick gripping her legs tighter stopped her.

ooo

Jack frowned at the red emergency lights that were flashing once they got back to The Den. It hadn't taken them that long, but Tasha and Pip had been nowhere near the exit of the fighting ring, and no one was calling out to her now. That still left two others unaccounted for, but Gigi and Victor barely showed up unless they really wanted a bed to sleep in.

"They wouldn't come back…" Jack insisted to herself before she shot off into the basement she called home. She had felt the warmth of Riddick's hand coming closer to her shoulder, but she didn't want to chance that he'd pull her back. Her mind wouldn't rest, and she had to make sure no one was there; she had to see it with her own eyes.

Jack pushed a chair out of the way, and didn't even take the time to go around their makeshift wall. She just pushed passed the bed sheet to get a look into the computer area. Her worries only half settled when she didn't find someone dead and slumped over in the chair. The little message warning blinking on the screen made rush over to the computer to make it pop up, though.

Her heart dropped when it wasn't Tasha's face on the message, and her stomach tied itself into knots when the troll said one simple thing, _"Your friends will be mine, and your bounty will go to whoever gets you first."_

Then the screen went blank…


	4. Down Hill

Meh... This chapter just wouldn't come out, so sorry if it sucks. I'm pretty sure that next chapter will be better though.

Saismaat, thanks again for the review, it was really helpful.

LaisonFan2 and Spedclass, thanks for the reviews.

And Thanks to everyone else who is reading.

(Disclaimer: Still don't own Pitch Black/TCOR stuff.)

ooo

"What is wrong with you women?!" Riddick yelled at Jack when she wouldn't come any closer to the door to the den, despite the still flashing lights, his coaxing, and then his yelling and growling. It was like she was channeling Fry or some other bullshit that was making her become all noble. Riddick was determined not to play the same part, just on a different planet with different monsters, though. "What is so appealing about dying on some godforsaken rock?"

"Riddick, I can't just leave," Jack tried to explain to him, her voice hard despite the glassy appearance her eyes had taken on. "I have to find them; I have to get them somewhere safe. I can't just abandon them!"

"Don't fucking be like Fry, Jack," Riddick growled as he stalked closer to Jack invading her space. When all she did was turn her head from him he grabbed a hold of her chin, making her face him before went on, asking, "You remember Fry, right Jack? She _died_ after saying shit like that."

"But-" Jack tried to get in what she wanted to say, but when Riddick just let her go, and pulled his goggles off to glare down at her, it was like her throat closed up on her, or more like Riddick was holding it closed.

"No," He barked, mostly uncaring of what she wanted to say to him, while he ignored the lights that still flashed around them, "I allowed her to be fucking foolish because of you, but guess what you're here now, and you don't get that option."

"Riddick…" Jack pleaded with him, trying to get everything that was closed up in her throat across in just his name. However, all she got for her efforts was him reaching for her again. Jack tried to back up when she noticed, but tripped instead and landed hard on the bruise that was most likely forming on her shoulder blades from the hit she took to her back. Her head hit the ground, none to gently, and Jack whimpered in pain as she clenched her eyes shut and vainly tried to relax the muscles that hurt so much in her back.

After a moment Riddick just blew out a sigh and kneeled down, coaxing her into sitting as he said, bringing his tone under control, "Jack no one's going to blame you." Yeah they were recycled words, but Jack needed to hear them too. After all she wasn't getting a choice…

Jack resisted whining when Riddick moved her into his lap, getting her to put her legs around his waist, but she still had to try. She couldn't just let Riddick win like this; he couldn't just take her off this planet before she at least tried to help her friends… Jack put one arm around Riddick's neck, and before he stood up she slipped her hand back to grab the shiv that rested against her back in a holster.

Riddick must have noticed though, and on some level Jack knew he would. Before she could bring the knife any closer to him, Riddick paused in standing and one of his hands caught her wrist in a crushing hold as he chuckled lightly in her ear, "You couldn't get me down to the pits to fight. You think you can kill me though, or at least injure me enough that I won't come after you?" When she still wouldn't drop it he dropped his goggles on the ground to free up his other hand as he asked her, "Did you forget who you were fucking with, Jackie girl?"

Jack shook her head but still tried to grip the hilt harder; however with both of his hands Riddick easily pried hers open to release the shiv to him. As it were though, it also left him with no hands to deal with her free one. She reeled back and punched him in the jaw, even though in the end it was ultimately a very wrong thing to do.

Riddick had the shiv pressing into her back before she knew it as he dared her, "Do it again Jack. Do it." But when she didn't, Riddick grinned and slipped the shiv back where it came from on her body. "Good," He nearly purred to her as he picked his goggles up and put them back on, before he also slipped the hood of his jacket up.

When Jack felt him stand up, and lift her with an arm under her butt she put her arms firmly around his neck. She knew that he wouldn't accidently drop her, (purposely was up in the air if she pissed him off again) but there was something about another person being in charge of her body that made her uneasy. Even if it was just something as small as being picked up. Riddick merely laughed a little at the frown she was giving and turned to walk up the steps and out the door of her old home.

Jack frowned when Riddick didn't let her down once they were out of the basement of the hotel. She figured he would have let her down, but he just kept walking down the alley. Jack ventured to wiggle a bit to see if he'd catch on and put her down, but after she tried once or twice more all he did was lift her a little higher… It made her frown in confusion for all of a second as she looked between them trying to figure out what moving her did, but when she looked back up to find Riddick smirking Jack's green eyes just went round.

_No more wiggling…_ Was the only thought Jack would admit to having about the situation, even if he might have just been messing with her, before she heard something. Jack went to turn her head to try and find it, but Riddick put his hand over her mouth and shoved her into the wall next to them.

She whined against his hand at the pain of her bruises and injuries being jolted, but he didn't move to help her at all. Jack tried to listen to Riddick when he told her to relax, his breath puffing out against her neck, but when his lips touched her neck it felt as if him telling her to relax was like getting an alcoholic to understand they were being cut off for the night. Not impossible, but damn hard sometimes.

The footsteps stopped after a few moments, and Jack turned her head opposite of where the person went hoping they were gone, but when Riddick pulled back from her neck and spoke her hopes were dashed. "This is not a show," Riddick said gruffly as he subtly let up on the pressure he was putting on Jack's abused back, and now that she had moved her head he moved his one hand from her mouth to rest against her side to keep her steady.

"Mmh, she looks like she has a nice body though," A voice that Jack couldn't place, but had probably heard before said.

"She caught my eye," Riddick growled before he indulged himself and tasted Jack again, even if it wasn't completely necessary. It seemed to be enough for the man though, because he finally turned and went down through the door he and Jack had just walked out of. Riddick didn't move them away from the wall though as he lightly nipped at Jack's racing pulse, making her grip at his jacket and pull down his hood.

"Riddick…!" Jack gasped, torn between pushing him back and pulling him closer. Not that she really had to choose because he pulled back from her neck then and let her down with little warning. She looked up at him then, and damned the welder's goggles he wore. It's like they were a tool to hide his already hard to read emotions.

"We got to go," Riddick said suddenly as he gently took a hold of her upper arm and started to lead her out of the alley. Jack had just been so warm against him; he hadn't really meant to carry on that far. He just meant to tease her a bit, maybe get her back for trying to run away from him.

Jack felt lost as she followed Riddick. She was being torn in so many directions at once, and it didn't help that one of the directions was Riddick and he was pulling her away from everything else. Sure when she had first met him, his direction being the only one wouldn't have bothered her in the least. She would have gladly run after him with no coaxing needed what so ever. Now though… she felt she should at least find the gang a decent hiding place before she abandoned them. Riddick had even done that much on the dark planet in the M 344/G system, though he did come back for her and Imam with Fry.

Riddick was almost concerned when Jack's eyes went unfocused, but she was still walking. Still she wasn't bumping into anymore people then was unavoidable in the crowd milling around to get to the different casinos, so he let it go, only looking back at her every now and then. After about the second time her eyes seemed to drift off after a second, and that's when she started to struggle again. Riddick looked, but couldn't find either Tasha or Pip. He did however catch sight of a girl who looked similar to Tasha being pulled along after her mother. The girl was too young though, and too clean to be the Hacker, but apparently Jack was either seeing someone he wasn't, or she wasn't paying attention.

Jack wasn't paying close enough attention, because she thought she was seeing Tasha. She snapped out of it though when Riddick growled, "It's not her." She focused more and noticed the woman pulling the girl looked a lot like the girl, her mother. Tasha didn't have one as far as Jack was told.

As Riddick moved in front of her and picked her back up, Jack frowned but didn't do anything to resist him. She felt like a child, but still she just moved her arms back around him and put her head on his shoulder. She saw three other "Tashas", two "Pips", and even one or two people she for a half a second thought were Gigi or Victor. Jack knew that it was just because she was looking for them, because she so desperately wanted to see them alive one more time… Maybe it was a good thing Riddick was holding her, or she'd be running after people who were unfortunate enough to look like the people she lived with.

It didn't take long for Riddick to get them to the docking bay once he didn't have to steer Jack, and once he got there he gave some fake name and some creepy old guard let him passed. Of course this was not before the guard leered at Jack as Riddick let her down onto her feet. "Have a nice night." Was all they heard as Riddick quickly pulled Jack after him, towards where he had the ship he bought on some small planet not far from New Mecca.


	5. In Space

(Disclaimer: Same as in the first four chapters)

Allthingssupernatural, I'm glad you like it so much, and I hope you continue to like it. Thanks for the review.

Saismaat, thanks again for the help, and ... gah I have to go now, I promise to comment on your review more later, but I have to go. I'm just getting the chapter up.

Thanks everyone and happy halloween!

ooo

"Where are we going?" Jack asked as she leaned against the archway to the cockpit, looking at Riddick. He was lounging back in the pilot seat with space stretching out in front of him, but when she spoke he spun around to look back at her. The lights were at their lowest setting and his goggles were sitting on the ship's mainframe in front of him.

"Lupus 5," Riddick answered almost unsure that she had actually asked him anything. After all it had been three days since they left Freemont, and three days since she said anything to him. These four words were the first he had heard out of her at all, and after she merely nodded before sitting in the copilot seat he figured they were going to be the last he heard…

Jack frowned out at the stars and wondered if there was a cryotube hiding somewhere on the small ass ship. Lupus was at least two weeks away from what Jack knew, and she had gotten the distinct feeling that this ship was not actually made to entertain people for that long, though it was for some reason made to fly to at least that long.

There were four rooms… five if you counted a bathroom as an actual room. One was the cockpit, which was more like a closet with a window and a computer. Behind that was a common room/kitchen, and though the kitchen was stocked with food to eat the sitting area was nothing but that. It had a couch and an arm chair that had probably come standard, because Jack knew Riddick wouldn't have actually spent the time to buy the two things he technically didn't need. Then further back in what Jack guessed should have been a den of some sort, was a workout room where Riddick must have traded carpet for padded floors, and put up a punching bag. (It also contained the one and only bathroom on the ship.) Then last but not least was a bedroom which you had to climb a ladder in the common room to get to. Riddick had insisted she used the bed, and so she did, it was the only reason she knew it existed at all.

"Are you going to say anything else?" Riddick asked as he went back to leaning back in the chair, and looked over at Jack. "Or do I have to wait another three days for you to talk again?"

Jack turned her attention back to Riddick then. His silver eyes were on her and he was obviously waiting for a verbal answer, so looking at him dully apparently wouldn't cut it today like it had before. Jack thought about everything she could say, her face gave away that she was thinking about something, and Riddick didn't stop her from doing so. He even just watched as she turned her seat around, instead of grabbing it and turning it so she'd be facing him while she spoke.

Now, Jack thought through her options, and the consequences of everything she could say. Most of them would irritate Riddick at least a little, or pull some indifferent reaction from him. Only one that she could think off would really piss him off…

And right now Jack was feeling a little reckless…

"Ship…" Jack said prompting Riddick to sit up more and raise an eyebrow at her, before she blurted out, "Lights on high!"

With her bad deed for the day done Jack jumped up and ran for the back of the cabin to get to the workout room. She ignored the noise that had come from Riddick that was a mix of anger and extreme discomfort. Her hand was on the doorknob by the time Riddick growled for the ship to turn the lights off, and Jack didn't tempt fate by telling it to turn them back on. She was already in enough trouble as it was, she was sure.

Jack got the door open and rushed inside before she turned around trying to figure out where Riddick was. Her only idea came when she heard the door shut, trapping her inside. He was either leaving her in there to think about what she did (unlikely) or he was in there with her and he was going to do something to her.

And Riddick was indeed in the room with the wayward girl. He watched as she backed up further in the room vainly trying to find him as he came after her. Her little prank made him wonder what exactly she wanted him to do to her. The idea of her having cabin fever came to mind, but he discarded it in favor of the more likely idea that she just resented him for taking her from her friends.

He moved around her saying almost idly, "Now Jack, that wasn't very nice."

Jack didn't answer as she turned to face the direction his voice had come from, but when she backed up she hit the punching bag in the room. Paranoid, she jumped away from it after she elbowed it. She felt it swing and just barely touch her before she ran into something else. This more sturdy, and most certainly Riddick…

"Did you think you would get away with it?" He prodded quietly as she ducked away from him and effectively cornered herself. He moved after her and placed his hands on either side of her head before he leaned down and asked, "Or were you counting on it, that I wouldn't let you get away with it?"

Jack closed her eyes against the darkness, and tried to sink into the corner feeling suffocated by it, and by Riddick in front of her. The dark didn't scare her nearly as much as it did when she first got off of the first planet with Riddick and Imam, but now she instead just felt like it had her on a leash. She could never get too far from it, but the second she stepped all the way in it choked her, trying to keep her there. As for Riddick, Jack had never really been afraid of him, she just wasn't, but that however didn't stop her from being weary of what he could do to if he wanted especially after so long of him not being around.

When nothing else happened Riddick just frowned and brushed a curl from in front of Jack's face as he moved to lean on one of the walls next to him. "Do you really want me to punish you for _it_ Jack?" He watched as her eyes opened, and he knew that if the lights had been on for her to see she would have looked at him in a way that asked what he was talking about. Instead he went on without her look, or even a question she might have asked. "Do you want me to punish you because you let me take you off that planet?"

Jack frowned; she wanted to see the look on Riddick's face. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or if he was just trying to get a rise out of her. Either way he was definitely fucking with her head… Her shoulders slumped as she leaned into the corner more and nodded. "I do…"

"Ship, lights on low," Riddick commanded gruffly. When Jack could see again and she looked at Riddick she knew he had been serious in asking her that.

ooo

Riddick frowned in thought as he looked at the girl in his lap. He was leaning back against the wall as Jack rested against his chest. For some reason unknown to him he hadn't just laid her on the floor, so she could sleep off their spar on the padded floors, while he went back to sit in the cockpit again. Casual touching wasn't something Riddick often did, or ever did really. Actually, until Jack, touching someone else meant business or sex it was just how he was, how his animal was. With Jack though he didn't mind, his first thought wasn't how to end their contact as fast as possible.

He had first found this out on the way to New Mecca after the incident on the merc ship. Jack had come up behind him after she jolted awake, probably from a nightmare and hugged him from behind the chair he was in. Any other person who pulled that probably would have been sent flying into the windshield. Once Jack's sent invaded his senses though he just awkwardly patted her hands before asking what she thought she was doing. Imam had been asleep, otherwise he probably would have asked before she even got close.

Speaking of the holy man…

Riddick knew that eventually Imam would call to ask if he had gotten Jack, and he'd have to explain that he wasn't taking Jack back to him if that was even what Imam had in mind. Of course to get Imam to leave them be faster he'd lie, and say that their trail was too hot, mercs were looking for them too closely, and he couldn't take her back just yet. After all Jack didn't want to go back, so he figured that she wouldn't mind the lie, and eventually the lie that would probably come after that.

"Riddick…"

Coming out of his thoughts Riddick focused on Jack, expecting to find her looking up at him, but she seemed to still be sleeping. Tilting his head a little to get a better look at her Riddick frowned when he found that she looked upset. Her hand gripped his top and she curled up more against him.

"Riddick…" Jack mumbled again in her sleep.

He wrapped an arm around her when she tried to cuddle closer to him, which wasn't very possible as she was already on top of him. Her lips moved after that, but nothing actually came out. When she jerked in his hold a bit was when Riddick decided to wake her up, before she got worse and started thrashing or something. "Jack, Jack, get up," Riddick said firmly, trying to get her to respond.

It took a moment but Jack did open her eyes, and after a bit more she realized where she was before she quickly moved off of Riddick. Once she was settled and sitting next to him instead, she looked at him saying, "Sorry Riddick…"

"It's fine," Riddick grunted with a smirk once he caught her blush, "But what were you dreaming about?"

Jack frowned as she tried to pull the dream back; she could remember Riddick, but not much else. There was just a lot of darkness. Looking down and then back at Riddick she shrugged, only the movement made her cringe and remember just why she was laying on the floor with Riddick.

"I don't remember," Jack mumbled after the pain passed. After a second though she asked him, "I do however remember, faintly, landing a punch…" Jack shook her head before going on, "Not that it did anything huh?"

"No, there was actually more power behind you falling on me," Riddick said, deciding to let the dream go. She looked like she really didn't know; there was no use in trying to drag something she couldn't remember out of her. It was after all just a dream he supposed. "Though I guess in all fairness to you, you weren't trying very hard. You didn't try and block, your punches were lousy to say the least. You did better in that fighting ring so I know you're not just an incompetent fighter."

"Meh," Jack mumbled at him as she went to stand up. Instead though she fell back before she groaned saying, "I think you broke me…"

"You'll be fine," Riddick chuckled in the end. "Tomorrow though, you should try not to let me get behind you or at very least keep your hands up."

"Tomorrow?" Jack questioned as she watched Riddick rock up onto his feet. He merely grinned down at her before he started walking off. "Riddick! Riddick, I'm not sparing with you every day!" Grudgingly Jack pushed up onto her feet and only slightly winced when one of the muscles in her leg objected to being stretched. "Riddick, come back here, I'm not sparing with you anymore!"

Jack heard Riddick laugh deeply before she made it to the door and watched as Riddick dropped down into the arm chair grinning. He had won and Jack knew it… He hadn't said two words to her objections, to her claims, and yet he had won…

One day she'd hopefully figure out how exactly he did it.


	6. An Animal Thing

Okay... okay... it's up! I win! *twitch*

It's offically one something in the morning, but I finished it!

I don't know about how I ended this chapter, but it works with how I want the next few chapters to go... It's like my story got up and ran where it wanted to go, and not where I originally though it would go... that ever happen to you? Anyways... feh...

Also yes I actually have the next like... six or so chapters planed out... there is some kind of method to my madness...

Finally, Saismaat, again thank you for your reviews you're amazing. To your review on the fourth chapter I never got to commenting on, yeah, I wanted to tie the the first movie in (mostly because it was my favorite installment) and as for Riddick, yeah he wanted to play that roll but at the same time he didn't want to play the hero and save everyone this time, he just wanted to save Jack and get out, which he did.

For your review on the fifth chapter thanks, I try, but really I'm just kind of bad at writing fight scenes, and I find that though they're interesting to watch in movies they're not always that exciting to read... and just thanks again.

And of course thank you to everyone who reads.

(Disclaimer: Look in the first few chapters.)

* * *

_"I miss you Jack," Imam said his face only slightly fuzzy on the screen in front of Jack._

_"I know Imam, I miss you too," Jack said, her head lowered as she sat in the pilot seat that Riddick had abandoned for her._

_"Are you going to come back?"_

_"Not right now… It's like Riddick said, things are too hot."_

Jack sighed as she curled up tighter on the couch. It had been a few days since Imam called, and he had looked so concerned, so worried. Still, she had lied to him just like Riddick had told her to, because Imam did want her to go back to New Mecca to try living there again. Jack had tuned things out after a while, but Imam might have said something about her not needing to be jealous of Ziza, not that she ever had been. No, Jack just hadn't wanted to change, not that it mattered because Fremont had changed her anyway. Just Freemont probably changed her for the worst when Imam and his wife had wanted to change her for the better.

"Come on Jack it's time to spar," Riddick said as he moved to stand in front of the couch, and looked down at Jack. Her back was to him, so when she didn't move he leaned over her to see her face making sure that he wasn't talking to a sleeping girl. One hand rested on the back of the couch, and the other sat on the armrest just above her head, effectively having him looming over her when Jack turned her head slightly to look up at him.

"I don't feel like it Riddick," Jack said before she let her head relax to look at the fabric of the back of the couch again. "I'm an accomplished killer; I think I can take a day off from training."

"You can take a day off when after I don't hand your ass to you in sparing, now get moving," Riddick said as he glared down at the girl. Jack didn't move though, she just kept staring at the back of the couch. "No?" Riddick questioned after that, wanting to know if she wasn't going to listen.

"No," Jack said shortly.

"Have it your way," Riddick grunted before he reached down and plucked Jack off the couch. He then hefted her up onto his shoulder before be started walking towards the door that led to their little gym. Hopefully she had learned on Freemont that the more she struggled the more he'd jerk her around…

Jack didn't move for a second and merely growled at being thrown over his shoulder again, at being treated like she was still a child. She was grown; she was seven-fucking-teen. She had a mind, and the ability to put it to use and get a right answer more often than not. She was _not_ some child that Riddick could boss around. More to the point she was not some child who was willing to indulge his every whim, every time boredom stuck him.

This all prompted Jack to reach down into Riddick's back pocket, ignoring the fact that she was basically touching his ass and that he had paused because of it, to pull out a smallish, and slightly dull shiv. She had seen him working on it earlier before he carelessly dropped it in his pocket. Jack vaguely remembered hoping it would stab him when he sat down for being a jerk. Now though she just pressed it to his back none too gently, and ground out, "Riddick, if you don't put me down, right now, I'm going to shove this shiv so far into your sweet spot no one will find it."

Riddick stood there for a moment feeling the tip of the blade just barely bite into his skin through his shirt before he said, "Jack I know, just as well as you do, that you can't kill me." He then paused for a moment as he felt the unfinished shiv shudder lightly against his skin, and felt Jack shake in his arms and against his body. "I'm the only thing you got."

Jack groaned as she warred with herself. The only way to prove him wrong was to kill him, and even then it'd only come out half and half. She'd be all alone, with no one unless she went back to Imam. They both knew she wouldn't do that though, that she wouldn't go back and face Ziza a killer, especially if Jack ended up the murderer of the hero in the child's bedtime stories.

Finally Jack dropped the shiv to the floor and instead just gripped the back of Riddick's shirt as she cried, "You're nothing but a selfish beast!"

Riddick didn't move for a moment. He sat in his bittersweet victory with his trembling prize. Once he did move however he carefully slid Jack so he was holding her with an arm under her ass and his other braced against her back to keep her from pushing too far back from him, them for once eyelevel with eachother. Then when Jack finally looked towards his eyes Riddick growled, low, rumbling, "That's right Jack, I'm a selfish beast, but I'm all you got. I suggest you get use to it."

"What if I don't feel like it?" Jack snapped as she glared at him.

ooo

Now if one could imagine two animals stalking each other, circling and circling, waiting for the other to make the first strike, then you'd have a very good idea of what this fight looked like. Both held shivs, both relatively the same, though Riddick's was more curved then Jack's. The two wouldn't take their eyes off each other, and they had been moving around in a circle for the last five minutes. Neither noticed, they were waiting for an opening.

The person who lost would see the room upstairs turned into a med-bay if the other got too zealous.

This is what Jack's question brought them too. Riddick had locked her in the gym, after almost literally throwing her in it, for a few minutes before he came back with the shivs. He dropped hers at her feet before backing up. That question had been the last words spoken between them.

The two animals were silent, they didn't even growl at each other. Both watched for a mistake, an opening, a weakness. Riddick found Jack's first when she hesitated in keeping up their circling. She thought about striking, went to, but stopped. Riddick went instead, their shivs scratched against each other after Riddick cut across their imaginary circle.

Jack ducked out of the way of Riddick's free hand as it came flying towards her face. From her lower position Jack rammed her shoulder forward into Riddick's stomach, but even as Riddick grunted and moved back she could hear the tear of fabric and felt the sting of Riddick's shiv sliding up her back, a few inches left of her spine, just enough to draw blood.

It was a warning that she was fucking up.

They disengaged and Jack ignored the blood trickling down her back. It angered Jack in a childish, and girly, way that Riddick had just ruined the only shirt she had. The day she wasn't wearing one of his shirts was the day they went at it with shivs. And Riddick, well all he was doing was smirking in smug satisfaction. She'd have to sit in his shirts for the next week and then some until he docked and got the cash to buy her clothes. He couldn't help but think that if he ruined her pants she'd have to get creative with how to wear his.

When Jack caught on to what he was thinking her glare hardened. This was a serious fight and he was thinking of ways to undress her with a shiv while they fought!

It prompted her to rush him…

ooo

Jack landed hard on her back, and the air rushed out of her lungs as Riddick kneeled over her, his legs on either side of her body. She whimpered as she felt the cut on her back strain and bleed more, and thrashed her head back and forth once at the feeling of the cut on her hip, just above her pants, sting as fabric rubbed against it. The bruises that covered different parts of her body throbbed, each telling her of a different mistake, each telling her she was lucky Riddick didn't want her dead.

"Well Jack, I think we have the answer to your question," Riddick crooned to her as he leaned down closer to her, his shiv safely put away, hers safely on the other side of the room. He then wiped some blood from her cheek with his thumb, as he answered the question himself, by saying, "That's just too. Damn. Bad."

Riddick watched as she writhed in pain for a moment more before he pushed her hair back from her face. He winced a little after, and then frowned when he saw that he had dampened her hair with blood from a cut on his palm. She had gotten him, more than once, so he wasn't walking away from this clean, just in better shape than his Jack.

"That's right…" Riddick growled contently at the reoccurring thought, "My Jack, I'm all you've got and you're mine because of it."

If Jack thought that the darkness held her leash before, she was dead wrong. It was Riddick that held her leash. It was Riddick that kept her tethered to the darkness that held monsters. Of course Jack knew it was only fitting for him to hold her to the darkness. No matter how much she had adored him when she was a kid, no matter how much she respected him, she had never been deluded into thinking he was anything other than an animal. It was just like she said, he was a beast. Riddick was a monster himself and he had laid his claim on her.

Really Jack could almost hear it…

Somewhere angels were crying at the loss of what she could have been if she had just stayed with Imam, and somewhere else demons were vainly wondering aloud if Riddick would share…

Jack ignored her body's protests and rolled onto her stomach. If she had been stronger at that moment she would have tried to crawl away, to get away from his overwhelming presence. If she had been younger, this wouldn't have scared her, they wouldn't have had this fight in the first place, she would have been perfectly okay with the fact that he was all she had, and thrilled that she was _his Jack_. Even if a small part of her was still thrilled at the thought, she still shuddered as Riddick leaned his forehead to her shoulder blade. She couldn't find her voice to tell him she was afraid he'd leave her; all she could do was whine.

She didn't even know what being his meant…

Riddick wasn't the type for a cute little family…

Jack wasn't even sure that Riddick knew what monogamy was…

After a few more moments though Riddick stood up and collected her into his arms. She laid her head against him, and ignored that the blood from the cut on her cheek was met with more blood from a cut on his arm, she tried to ignore the pain and the confusion but they just seemed to mingle together. Her vision swam slightly but Jack staid conscious, she even moved up the ladder with Riddick's help. She couldn't stand up off the floor, though, once she moved out of the way for Riddick to finish into the cabin himself, so he picked her up and put her in the bed she had been using.

"You'll be okay," Riddick hummed before he wandered off to the side of the bedroom that contained a door that opened up to reveal the washer and dryer, and above that a load of first aid supplies…

ooo

"What did you mean?" Jack asked after he finished bandaging them both up, and the painkiller he gave her set in. "Riddick, what did you mean when you said I was yours?"

Riddick looked to Jack for a moment before he moved to sit on the bed next to her, leaning his back against the wall. He put his arms behind his head and watched as Jack moved so she was lounging next to him, only with her arms around her stomach. Once they were settled he said, "Jack you've been mine since I saved you from that hammerhead monster. It means I'm going to keep you safe."

Sure he was giving her the condensed version, the version that made it sound like nothing would change between them. He wasn't telling her that as long as he was around she wouldn't be with any other man despite the fact that he might very well entertain himself with whores from brothels. Riddick didn't tell Jack that when she said he was a selfish beast she hit the nail on the head, and that he had been lying to himself when he said to himself he wasn't just being a selfish fuck.

Riddick knew that Jack had found out before he left her on New Mecca that families, and a stable home situation, or even a real non-moving home, were not things that came with him. Still he wanted her happy... listening to him, but happy. There was no reason to make her feel deprived of a life outside of him. Just yet.

"Oh."

It was a simple response but the smile on Jack's face told Riddick that she accepted it, and that it satisfied her curiosity. Then something Riddick had greatly missed happened, she cuddled up to his side, content and quiet. Riddick couldn't help but think that this was more like it. More like it should have been from the beginning.

And Jack, well, she couldn't help but wonder how them beating each other, going at each other with knives, finally calmed them down…

It must have been an animal thing… something she picked up from Riddick at some point…


	7. Need a Fix

My my it has been a while... sorry for the wait, but I think I'll be updating more regularly now.

LeytonTilEnd, I'm very glad you like it, and I hope that you continue to.

Saismaat thank you again for your amazing reviews.

Also thank you, everyone who's just lurking around reading my little story.

(Disclaimer: Don't own anything from the Riddick series.)

* * *

They had been on Lupus 5 for a total of a day and a half, but it was the first time Jack had gotten to leave the ship, and something was already wrong. Riddick looked at Jack through his welder's goggles as they stood towards the back of an alley, out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the people in the market. Jack was shaking, the bag they had bought to carry everything they were buying was crushed to her chest while she stared aimlessly in front of herself. He had tried to pat her shoulder, comfort her at least a little, but she had jerked away from him mumbling something about someone not really being somewhere.

"Jack," Riddick said with a deep frown, "You're not making sense."

"He's supposed to be gone! Lost, dead, something, he's not supposed to be _here_!" Jack finally exploded, words just flowing out as fast as possible, as her eyes flew up to look at Riddick. She lost her grip on the bag then and it lightly thudded to the dirty ground beneath their feet. Jack looked at the bag for a moment, like she didn't understand how it got there before she murmured pleadingly, "Riddick, tell me you didn't see him, tell me he wasn't really there."

"I don't know who you're talking about, Jack," Riddick said calmly as he leaned down and picked up the bag for her. Jack looked back at him before she reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt, but Riddick didn't move to do anything about her grip on him. Not even when she started pulling on the shirt trying to get him closer to her. No, he just watched as she prattled on…

"Pip, Riddick, I fucking saw Pip!" Jack shouted her large eyes desperate. Though, whether she was desperate for Riddick to believe what she saw, or desperate for him to say he hadn't seen the boy, she didn't know. Jack just wanted an answer. "Did you meet Pip on Freemont? Did you see him in the market just now? Please Riddick just answer me!"

"Yeah, I met Pip, Jack. He was down in The Pits, he took Tasha to kill the lights," Riddick said as he pushed the bag up onto his shoulder, letting Jack hold onto him still, "But I didn't see him out there." His answers were merely met with a shaky "you're sure?" and Riddick insisted firmly, "Jack I didn't see that boy out there." It only took a second for Riddick to realize she was going to question him again so he grabbed onto her shoulders saying, "Jack, no one from Freemont is on this planet."

Jack finally nodded then, but Riddick could see the doubt swimming around behind her eyes. He didn't want to keep Jack locked up on the ship every time they docked, but she'd just draw too much attention to them if she saw those kids from Freemont in every person they passed on the planets they landed on. Even as she let her fingers slip from his shirt Riddick wondered if he should have been walking her back to the ship right now so this couldn't happen again. They had her clothes; all they had to do was restock the med bay and the food, and Riddick could do that himself.

"Riddick, can I go back to the ship?" Jack said unknowingly making up Riddick's mind for him. She watched him nod before Riddick started back out of the alley.

ooo

"I'll be back, Jack," Riddick said after he watched Jack sit on the couch, and pull her knees up to her chest. "Don't go anywhere."

"Okay," Jack mumbled as she looked back at him. He nodded at her reaction before he walked back off the ship and closed it back up. As she buried her face against her knees Jack tried to collect herself. She needed to make herself believe she would never see those people again, that she needed to stop looking for them. It was easy when it was just her and Riddick, but she couldn't go through life living on whatever ship Riddick had at the time and never leaving.

However, forgetting the people she had lived with for so long and left for dead seemed to be harder then fighting Riddick. This had to say something as she had yet to make the man submit, and their last fight after she tried to defy him had stopped them from sparing until last night. Even then it hadn't been a long or heavy spar.

"There must be something wrong with me… I'm an assassin… I just need to add them to the list," Jack muttered to herself before she forced herself to get up and move over to the ladder. Right now sleep seemed like a decent idea despite the threat of nightmares, so she climbed up the ladder and almost literally crawled over to and onto the bed. She left the covers bunched and crumpled from when she first got out of it and just laid down. Jack only reached up and pulled the pillow under her head because it was in her line of vision before she just curled up and closed her eyes, hoping that sleep would take her.

Eventually her breathing slowed, and she closed her eyes waiting for her brain to let go of conscious thought so she could sleep. However her mind just wouldn't let go of the thought that one of them might be alive, even if it was just Pip. The guy that wanted to throw her out on her ass when she was too injured to move or think properly, the bastard that reminded her of Johns.

If just one of them could be alive, then maybe the others could be too…

Jack only just began to teeter between awake and asleep when she finally settled on letting memories of the group setting up their home float through her mind. Victor and Gigi had fought over what to call it, because apparently "home" was not good enough. Pip dragging furniture around according to Tasha's directions while the girl set up her computer. (It had been a single monitor system back then.) Jack had been in charge of hanging up the sheets because even if she was the assassin she was also the safest choice to use the staple gun. It was one of the few times the group was all together. It was also just about the only time they had all been happy while they were all together.

Jack could remember Gigi's purple and black hair, and the girl's unwavering smile. Victor, was a good guy even if he only really talked to Gigi, he had puppy dog brown eyes. The two were a couple, a good one at that considering that there was nothing keeping them together. Gigi was loud, Victor was quite, both were stubborn in their own ways and they always disagreed. Pip had insisted to her once that they must have stayed together because they had great makeup sex. Jack had hit him for saying that about their relationship, but didn't doubt that the two must have had great makeup sex. (She had walked passed Victor's room one night and was suddenly glad she gave them the rooms in the back of the building.)

Pip was a jerk most of the time, and he did remind her of Johns but that day he had been almost more than decent. Jack had wondered in the beginning if Pip had been a Merc in disguise but had put the theory to rest when he never turned any of them in for stealing. Really she let Pip stay, because without him they wouldn't have enough money to eat right. The soup kitchens always ran out on Freemont, and it was mostly watered down broth and soggy bread anyway. You could live off it if you were desperate… and on time.

The reason Jack didn't want them to live off it was always Tasha though. The girl had the potential for so much. The little blonde was a prodigy and Jack just knew she hadn't gotten the right chance to show anyone. Jack loved the girl like a sister, she wanted Tasha well fed. She wanted to get Tasha off Freemont, Jack had even thought about taking the girl to New Mecca to have Imam take her in. Tasha would like school, Jack knew it, Tasha and Ziza would love each other, and Imam and his wife would love Tasha too. Jack could just never get the money to get off the planet and take her there without starving them for a while, and Jack had been so nervous about seeing the holy man again. She had run out on him when the man just wanted to give her a good life…

Jack just couldn't take trying to be different. She felt like a caged animal, and when she first got off of New Mecca she had wanted to find Riddick so badly… Fremont had just killed her chances. Jack had grown bitter, and scared of meeting her past.

It killed her to leave them there… but maybe if she just accepted their death she could get over this… Maybe all she needed was a job to harden her heart up a bit more. It was hardly as if Riddick would look down on her the way Imam had looked down on him when they needed food back on New Mecca. Maybe Riddick would even agree that it would be good for her in some morbid kind of way…

There had to be something wrong with her, Jack couldn't help but think again…

"Jack," Riddick's voice boomed in her head then, jolting her enough that she came fully back to the waking world. Jack, who was lying on her stomach shifted up onto her hands and knees quickly to find where Riddick was in the room, but she stilled instantly when her back bumped into his chest. Riddick was leaning over her, but when she went to move Riddick's arm slipped around her as he said, "We're going to be leaving for the next planet the day after tomorrow. I got a gig shipping something, it'll get us a better ship, and I'll get you a personal-com so you can have something to keep you busy when you're bored."

"Really?" Jack asked, with possibly the first sign of real excitement Riddick had heard out of her since before he left her with Imam.

"Yes really," Riddick hummed as he lowered his forehead to her shoulder. She was warm, and soft, and Riddick almost regretted that what he was going to say next was probably going to ruin her new found good mood. However if he told her any later, she might be even more defiant and angry… "But you have to stay in the ship until after we get the new one and land again."

"Why?" Jack questioned as she lightly struggled to look back at him. When he wouldn't answer her, and just pulled her so she was standing with her back against him Jack went on slightly more frantic, "Riddick is it because of what happened today? I promise it won't happen again. Please you have to let me go out before then!" She needed to go out before she lost her nerve to do this on her own again.

"I don't have to let you do anything," Riddick insisted as he lifted her head to look down at her, after he turned her around. Her head was lowered a bit and he asked what he knew she was dreading, "But, I am curious, why do you want to leave the ship so badly, after you asked to come back today?"

"I need to go get a quick job…" Jack insisted as she forced herself to look up at him. Riddick, who had abandoned his goggles in his pocket, had an eyebrow raised his silver eyes taking her in.

"You do, do you?" Riddick seemed to taunt her with the question as he let his arms come away from her.

"I killed them Riddick. One way or another I killed them," Jack breathed as she looked away from him. "Now I just want to go get a job and get myself to believe that they were just like everyone else I've killed." It wasn't that she thought he'd be ashamed of her, but more that she was ashamed of herself. She already had Riddick "punish" her for leaving, and she knew she had to get over this. Her friends, feeling bad about leaving and lying to Imam, she needed to get over these things or she'd never be able to keep up with Riddick.

"You're going to have to wait to get your fix Jack," Riddick told her after a second of looking her up and down. Jack sparred with him far better than when she attempted to when she was younger, she had pulled a shiv on him, but Riddick still could only barely see the killer in this girl. The fighter in her was there, but maybe Riddick was just having a hard time seeing his Jack doing in people. She was older, no longer the kid who shaved their head to look like him, but he just couldn't see it. "It's too hot out there, a week from now, I'll let you go out an off anyone you want, I'll even join you."

Jack wanted to tell him that she couldn't wait that long. That she needed to go now, but she held her tongue. She had some control, but a week was long, too long for her really. Still she would have to live. "Who's after you?" Jack asked as she looked back at him.

Riddick carefully composed his face so it withheld anything that might give away him not telling everything before he spoke. She was digging, and she needed to stop or she'd find herself in a whole new state of depression. "Toombs is out there. I'm only leaving to get the package, the food and medical supplies are downstairs. I'm not dropping you off to hide somewhere again, so you're going to stay in here."

"Wait, Toombs, the merc from that crazy bitch's ship, after we got off the dark planet?" Jack asked after she searched through her mind.

"Yeah him and his little team, he's fucking annoying, but if we lay low we should be able to lose him," Riddick said with confidence. As long as she didn't leave the ship until they lost Toombs she'd never have to know why he wasn't letting her leave. Better yet if he killed Toombs and his little tag along the others would flee and Jack could go on believing what she wanted, get her killing fix, and they'd be in good shape.

Actually to Riddick that did sound like a good idea... Kill Toombs and that little Billy Bad-ass, and protect Jack.

* * *

Cookies to those who don't need to ask who's following Toombs, as I did make it fairly obvious. (At least I think so)

And so I'll tell you a few things that I've decided for the story. The Necromongers will come in, it'll just take a two or three chapters (four at the most) some of the gang from Freemont will be making appearences. (Though I won't be telling you which ones.) Also Imam will show up as more then a vioce.

So yes... end transmission or something to that extent.


	8. No Control

Yay for another chapter! And to all those who knew it was Pip good for yous.

This chapter might seem a little dull, but it's much needed, and the next chapter will be coming very soon because it's a part I'm very excited about. Just be a little patient.

Saismatt, Yeah the beginning is a little dull, but I'm going to leave it as it is for now. Maybe when it's finished I'll go back in and fix it. However, I do completely agree, and I went back in and change it so she wasn't just "talking" because you're right that did seem a little too calm, especially after she looked at their bag like it had a life of its own.

As for your problem with not remembering who Pip is, I realize some others might have the same problem so I added more in, and Riddick describes how he knows who Pip is. It should be enough for everyone to be reminded who Pip is.

Then with Jack thinking of herself as an assassin in that way. She does and she doesn't. She knows she's an assassin, and she isn't really a good person, but she doesn't really hate herself. She's trying to cope.

Yeah, I figured that Jack said that Pip reminded her of Johns and then Riddick calling him a Billy Bad-ass, what he actually called Johns in Pitch Black, would just solidify the idea of who it was for those who weren't sure and were really paying attention to everything.

And as always I'm glad you like it, and thank you for your reviews.

Joani, I'm glad you like the story, and I hope that you continue to

FluidDegree, I'm glad you like it and yes you're right.

LiasonFan2, Yesh ^.^ I'm back. And it's okay that you don't reply every time, you really don't have to. Just drop me a line when you really like something. Thank you for reading and reviewing though. And I'm glad that you like the story.

Also thanks to everyone else who is reading this. It's very much appreciated.

* * *

Jack thought she had control.

She had sat for over an hour waiting for Riddick to come back. He had only said "Toombs" upon walking out of the ship when she questioned him, which left Jack figuring that the merc wasn't going to be lasting much longer. It also led her to believe that Riddick might actually be gone for a bit.

Possibly long enough for her to go do a hit…

So Jack had been wrong, she didn't have control…

After a half an hour more Jack jumped up, pulled on her shoes, stashed a shiv in one of them, and headed out of the ship, locking up before she left. She headed toward the darkest part of Lupus 5, which was saying something as the whole planet was dirty to the core. Someone would want a hit-man for cheap; she'd just have to turn her head and squint to find the right person. Hell she'd offer it for free if she had to, Jack just wanted that job. She wanted reason for killing someone, even if it wasn't a good reason. Hell, "He cheated at poker" would be good enough for her.

ooo

A while later Jack stepped into a bar, dimly lit, people whispering. Jack looked like nothing special, her new clothes had clearly been worn by someone before she got them but she hadn't cared. They were cheap, and they fit, that's all that mattered. Also Jack didn't look like she was a hooker, so she only got lingering looks before being left alone to look for a place to sit.

The bartender took to giving her a problem for not wanting to order something, but Jack still just insisted, "I'm just looking for a job from one of your patrons." She didn't say it loud enough to be suspicious, but she did say it loud enough to be heard by anyone within five feet. After that it didn't take long at all for someone to sit next to her. Three minutes tops.

"What kind of job you looking for sweetheart?" The man asked leaning in a little too close for Jack's liking.

"I'm not sucking anything, if that's what you're thinking," Jack growled as the bartender left them to tend to someone who called out for a refill, saying he'd be back for her order or kicking her out. The man next to her had a beer in his hand, and when he didn't leave or just call out for a refill of his half filled glass she added quietly, "I'll kill just about anyone for anything though."

"Mmh, thought so," The man said before taking another swig of his beer, "How about a hundred Universal Denominations? That good, for an easy job? Be like polishing silver, or getting an attractive guy off with that pretty mouth of yours."

"What'd he do? Where is he? I'll tell you if a hundred's worth my time," Jack said as she looked at the man next to her. He was hefty, but it seemed like he could do some damage… in a caveman type of way. The man had a buzz cut, and smelled of booze. Over all he looked like an idiot…

"He's just a pain in the ass, always looking for work where he shouldn't. The stupid fuck need's to stay down here so the cops that are around don't start doing their jobs." The man said as she swirled what was left of his beer around.

"Cops need to be paid too," Jack insisted as she looked across the way at the different bottles of alcohol that were sitting on shelves, "But if you can get around to telling me what he looks like and where he is, I can take him off your hands none the less."

"Here's a picture," He said as he pulled out a flimsy piece of paper. "As for where he is, check the allies near the brothels few buildings down." He watched as Jack looked at the picture, committed the better toned man to memory before setting the picture down. "Don't you want that? In case you need to compare?"

"Nah you keep it, you'll need something to remember him by," Jack said as she dusted off the back of her pants. "No one will ever find all of him anyway."

The man went to say something else, but Jack wandered off before he could. Really she was grateful to be away from the boozer. He reeked; insulted her sense of smell, but then again all of Lupus 5 did that.

ooo

It took about fifteen minutes but Jack found the right guy. Of course being next to a brothel also meant that she also found a prostitute giving him a good time. Jack frowned in disgust before she rolled back around the corner she peeked around. She'd give the man some time let him have his last kick before she killed him. Also, Jack thought that she'd save the girl doing him some trauma... not that Jack didn't know the girl was probably already traumatized in her line of work…

"Hey, Jackie, wanna have some _fun_?"

Jack's heart nearly stopped, her blood felt like pancake batter that just wouldn't move through her veins. She turned her head slowly, only to find a face she didn't want to see. One she had been imagining on others. Her green eyes were wide, and Jack couldn't seem to move. Her voice wouldn't even come to her right now. All she could do was think… hope that she was just seeing things again.

"What Jack? Don't remember me?" He asked as he moved in front of her. "You left me for dead. You said that you never forgot someone you killed."

"Pip I tried," Jack forced out as she backed into the wall as much as she could. "I wanted to find everyone and get them somewhere safe but he wouldn't let me. He wanted me off the planet and he took me."

"_He_? You mean Riddick; you know the one Tasha called Richard. _Richard B. Riddick_?" Pip questioned, he didn't wait for answers though when he noticed Jack's eyes grow hopeful at the sound of Tasha's name.

"Tasha… the others…" Jack whispered even though she tried in vain to make her voice louder. She reached out to grab Pip, intending to shake him, make him tell her where they were. Make him tell her they were alive.

"No, you don't get to worry about them!" Pip hollered at her as he evaded her grasp and pulled out a gun. "You left Tasha; I mean yeah, I can understand you leaving me. Really it almost doesn't even bother me that you left me to die; I can even see you leaving Gigi and Victor, but Tasha. You loved that girl so much it had me wondering."

Jack looked at the gun, it sobered her to be on the other side of the killing machine. What was really killing her, though, was that the guy who didn't really like Tasha was bashing her for not saving the girl. "I couldn't stop him from taking me; I couldn't stop Riddick from doing anything he wanted…" Jack said, still not being able to get the whine out of it.

"You could have killed him," Pip said as he pushed the gun into Jack's stomach, "You being the big bad assassin of the group. Why didn't you just add his face to the list instead of ours?!"

Jack couldn't tell Pip that she could never kill Riddick, but her voice was barely missed as another voice from her past spoke up…

Toombs.

"Well I for one am very happy she didn't kill Riddick," Toombs said as a group of mercs circled around them.

"Because he is worth twice as much alive," Jack grumbled as she turned her head to look at the man who had talked, instead of the one with a gun in her gut.

"That's right," Toombs said sounding way too pleased, like he already had Riddick behind bars. Not that it was likely unless Riddick was just handing himself over to mercs these days. However the real reason he was pleased came out of his mouth next. "You, you're worth as much as he is dead, alive. So we'll be taking you in, after we use you as bait to get Riddick under lock and key too."

"He won't come for me, I've fucked up," Jack said leaning her head back when Toombs came closer to put his face next to hers. She would have moved altogether, if it weren't for the gun, well_ guns_ now pointed at her. Four others had shown up, including the guy from the bar, and the one that had been in the alley a moment ago. After noting this though Jack continued to lie, and said, "I couldn't keep up. He's probably on his way to New Mecca by now."

Toombs seemed suddenly very unhappy; obviously taking her words as truth. "New Mecca?" He asked grabbing her shirt and pulling her towards him, and away from Pip's gun. "Why would he go to New Mecca?"

"Would you look for him there?" Jack asked trying not to seem surprised that Toombs was this much of an idiot. It was the easiest lie she knew, and he was falling for it. Someone left the planet. It sent hoards of unwanted people to New Mecca looking for someone who wasn't there. It got old for Jack but she had to remember that not everyone had heard the lie, that it was only an old wasted lie for her.

And well Pip…

"He's not going to New Mecca," Pip suddenly cut in as he bashed Jack in the head with the back of his gun. It hurt and startled her, but it wasn't enough to knock her out. "If he's going to New Mecca then New Mecca is filled to the brim with corpses, and people who ripped off the casinos on Freemont. She tells everyone that when people go looking for someone she wants to keep hidden, or doesn't know herself where they are."

"Bitch," Toombs growled at Jack as he punched her in the face. He watched Jack stagger, and bend down holding her head before he started deliberating. "Well," He thought out loud "We could just go chain her up on the ship and broadcast that we have her. We stick around for a few days and let him try to come get her…"

Pip sighed, almost disappointed in himself that he joined up with such a useless merc. Still he nodded when Toombs looked to him for his opinion. Toombs after all did know how to find Riddick, had the heads up on him, and Jack was obviously there too just like he thought. He wanted to kill her though. He wasn't sure that Crematoria was enough for what Jack had done.

"Whoa-ahh…!"

Everyone turned to see Jack disappear around the corner and the man she'd been set up by looking down at the knife in his chest. It took them all of a second before Toombs yelled to everyone else, "Get her! Get her!"

Up on the roof, though, Riddick was frowning as he inspected his shiv. His silver eyes were hidden under his welders' goggles, but they were hard none the less. After a moment more he started towards where the yells and shouts of the mercs chasing Jack were. All he had to say was, "Jack you _are_ fucking up."


	9. Memories and Crematoria

Hello everyone!

So I'm sorry for being lame and telling you I'd update more, and then disappearing into the abyss. Life just started to suck, and then school exams came up. It wasn't a pretty picture. Then to make it better I got complete writers block. I actually started writing the beginning of this chapter a while ago, then discovered that I didn't know what to do next. Then when I went back to I decided I didn't like it, changed it. Then yesterday I changed it again, before finishing it up today....

So I really hope you like this chapter!

Saismaat, hehe kitten poker… I don't think it would have flown, but that is funny. And yeah, some things probably could have been tied up quicker, actually, it's probably a bit of a problem somewhere in this chapter too. Still thanks for the reviews, I'm glad that you still enjoy this little fic.

Riddick's Sita, Thank you for the reviews and the confidence. I'm glad that you like it so much. Also yeah, I'm very proud of that "somewhere angles are crying" line even if some others might have used it before me. And you know, you have a point, I might have Riddick picking up Jack, just a little too much. I'll work on it. Thank you again.

FluidDegree, I'm glad you liked it, also I think that Riddick is very... "fair", he's probably equally pissed about both. XD Thanks for the review.

To everyone else who is just lurking and reading, thank you again, and feel free to drop me a line I'd love to hear what you have to say, even if it isn't just praise.

(Disclaimer: I don't know anything of the Riddick verse, including the lines I took straight from TCOR movie.

* * *

Jack didn't blame Riddick for leaving her at Toombs' and Pip's mercy, not even month later. After all she had yelled and begged for him to leave her, when she knew he was there watching. None of them had guessed that Jack was really talking to him though, and she was thankful…

Knowing that Riddick was safe, and that he hadn't gotten caught up in her mistake was almost enough to get through what Pip did…

Almost… but not quite

_"Jack do you know what a snuff film is?"_ _Pip asked as he set up a portable movie player in front of Jack on a table. Jack being tied and gagged had no choice but to answer silently. She nodded a bit, but then shook her head, unsure. Either way she looked at Pip like he was crazy. "What was that Jack I couldn't understand…"_

_Pip walked over then and pulled the gag off of her. When prompted again Jack said, "It's a murder movie or something. Why? You going to show me my job?"_

_"Oh, you've never done something like this," Pip said with some kind of sick satisfaction. Jack didn't like the psycho worthy smile on his lips, and she liked it less when he started talking again, "You see, snuff films, at least the ones I'm talking about, are when young teens, or even children who have been kidnapped, stolen, etcetera are raped, tortured, and finally killed."_

_Frowning Jack asked, as she lost some self confidence, "Why do I need to know this Pip? Have you turned into such a sick fuck since I've been gone that you want to show me some of your dirty merc work?"_

_Pip glared at Jack for a moment and glanced back at the other merc that had been sent with him to get Jack to Crematoria. Actually the other merc was more or less there to _**make sure**_ Jack got to Crematoria. When it seemed that he was being watched Pip growled and merely went on. He said, "Shut up Jack, or you won't know what to expect."_

_Jack knew that the only reason she didn't have a face full of Pips fist was because she needed to be in one piece so they'd get the highest price for her. Life expectancy counted toward the bounty. So she just looked at him._

_"Good, now Jack, this is not my work. Not _MINE_." He stressed moving and leaning in close to Jack. "However, this is, despite what I said, your fault. You didn't physically do it, but believe me it's your fault. All yours."_

_Jack's eyes widened and she struggled asking frantically, "What are you talking about Pip? I never went after kids, no one under eighteen. What are you talking about?!"_

_Despite the other person Pip punched Jack in the face. He hit her hard in the cheek; it would no doubt bruise…_

_"Pip, watch it!" The other merc called as he moved into the back of the cabin after making sure the autopilot was set. "Get your kicks with the kiddy porn, not by beating her face in."_

_Pip glared at the other merc, Johnson, before he glared at Jack saying, "You know who I'm talking about. She's the star in this little flick, fucked in every hole, then every finger, and every toe gets cut off, then sewn back on," Pip paused and pulled on Jack's hair to make sure he had every ounce of her attention, making sure he didn't lose her to some dark recess in her mind, "And that was only the first forty-five minutes of Tasha's death. They had to stop a few times, there are a few hours missing, when they had to make sure she'd live a little longer, but" Pip patted Jack's abused cheek before finishing, "I'm sure you'll like it anyway…"_

Coming back to the present Jack peered at the hellhound thing stalking back and forth in front of the cell she got in. It peered back at her with vicious teeth, and silver eyes that reminded her of Riddick. She wondered if she should just open the door for it. The only things that stopped her was the bell that called the beast back and Riddick's voice in her head daring her to kill what was his. Like he'd find a way bring her back just to punish her for killing herself.

ooo

Riddick had everything set up… His shipping gig was done, the money for everything he promised Jack was safely stashed under a fake name in the bank, and he even sold the old skiff. Of course it didn't sell well after he destroyed the interior, but what was done was done his beast tore it apart like Jack would appear if he did. Then to top it off he had someone almost reliable on Pip's trail so he could go after the little shit later.

This knowledge is what got him to calmly let Toombs and his little group, minus Pip who Riddick learned went AWOL, chain him down and kick off. He enjoyed mind-fucking the little group as they headed for Crematoria, especially when he led Toombs right into taking him to the triple-max slam instead of one of the closer ones, like maybe back to Butcher Bay.

They were just so skittish, it was funny.

Oh and the girl merc he had with him. Riddick couldn't help but mess with her after she thought she'd try her hand at touching him. No, that was a Jack thing. Only Jack could crawl right up on his lap and not suffer any consequences…

Now he just had to get Jack off Crematoria and back into space…

_Right now_ though, he was just glad to be out of space. Toombs' nut job crew was barely able to land the shitty ship they had. Their ship com saying something like "angle of approach, not good", no shit, he thought coms were supposed to be more helpful now a day's…

All Riddick said though was, "Skittish, Tombs, very skittish."

Low and behold he was proven right when the whole team went about leading him down to the tunnel-car with big gauges in their hands. Really he was thinking about telling Toombs he wanted into Crematoria, but that would just ruin the man's fun. Then everyone would have to deal with his bitching, so he kept quiet mapped the way out in his head.

ooo

"What in the bowels of Christ are you talking about 700 k?" Toombs said as he stopped the rope lowering Riddick down into Crematoria, where the inmates and convicts were already starting to notice him. Banging wrenches, pipes, and even cups to let everyone know some new meat was there.

Riddick could hear the conversation going on above him, something about him being trouble or some other bullshit. Trouble or not seven-hundred K could have been a little low, but Riddick was a bit biased, and Toombs was taking forever…

"I'd take the money Toombs!" Riddick called up at the merc. After all he was one to give fair warning. If Toombs stuck around too long, he'd meet the end of his shiv sooner than planned. Not a bad thing for Riddick himself, but hey Toombs and his skittish crew might feel differently.

Still after being stopped for the second time Riddick decided he'd just let himself down. Being left with cuffs on his hands was a small price to pay, and hopefully it would get the idiots down here to knock the banging off. It was an old welcome, and Riddick didn't much care for it himself. There were better ways to freak someone out…

So, Riddick swung himself up and got the rope to twist around him. Once he let go the inertia on the way down was enough to break the chain linking the cuffs together. Like he thought, the cuffs remained just the same around his wrists, but they could be dealt with once he was off the heap, when he could find a blow torch.

Of course a fight ensued. People rushed him; others just watched to see what would happen. He took them down, even the pesky one that came up behind him. Then of course someone had to come in with a speech…

"There are inmates, and there are convicts. A convict has a certain code, and he knows to show a certain respect. An inmate, on the other hand, pulls the pin on his fellow man. Does the guards' work for them. Brings shame…" The man stopped and kicked one of the guys on the ground in the gut, earning him a grunt of pain, "To the game." He then pause once more, stopping in front of Riddick before asking, "So, which are you gonna be?"

"Me?" Riddick said, feigning thought as he looked around, "I'm just passing through."

ooo

"So you seem like a man on a mission," The man who asked him if he was a convict or an inmate said calling Riddick's attention to him. "They call me the Guv, maybe I can give you a hand."

Riddick took a moment to look the man over. There wasn't very much to lose, the guy either knew where Jack was or he didn't. In the long run it might save him some time. "Okay Guv, I'll level with you. I'm looking for a girl; she probably got here a little under three months ago. She has dark hair and a slight build," Riddick told him as he watched the man walk closer.

Guv thought over the newest arrivals to the slam. There was only one girl, and she did fit the description, "Don't know her name, but yeah I know where she might be. She has a cell she likes." Riddick nodded, and followed after Guv when he motioned for him to do so. "So Riddick, tell me, did you come all this way just to see a girl?"

"Yeah, I came all this way for Jack," Riddick said, and when he received a look for her name he just shrugged a bit insisting, "I didn't name the girl, but saving her ass keeps me in shape." There was no reason to go into detail. There was no reason to show that his weakness was one girl.

"You have some weird taste in exercise routines," Guv said with a shake of his head. He didn't know if the man really did get into slams just to break out in the name of fun, but he wouldn't put it passed him. Even in slams, word gets around. Riddick got out of Butcher Bay, maybe he was crazy enough to try Crematoria. "But no one's ever escaped from Crematoria, just so you know…"

ooo

"Well she didn't look… right when she got here, but I know she's alive," Guv said as he continued to lead Riddick towards the cell Jack supposedly occupied. "After all I haven't seen the hell hounds toting around body parts… well," Guv paused looking over at Riddick, "not hers anyway."

"You seen her lately," Riddick asked in monotone. He didn't doubt Jack was alive, but he was worried about her wellbeing, both mental and physical. Your first time in a slam could do weird things to you. Jack's first slam being a triple-max was probably not good on for the psyche.

"Not really, she's like a ghost. Don't blame her, best to just get lost here if you're a girl," Guv said as they neared. "Really I only know she favors this cell because it's where I've seen her rushing in when the hounds come in for feeding time. Then, once I saw her drag a body out, but that's about it. I don't even think she really sleeps in there."

Riddick let out a noise akin to a grunt to show he was listening as the Guv stopped and pointed to the cell in front of them saying, "This is it." Riddick looked around, and at first glance he didn't see her in there. Just a bed suspended from the wall with a beaten down mattress on it. The whole place was covered in debris, blood, and other questionable contents.

"Not in I guess," Guv said with a shrug. "You could wait around until the hounds are let through to see if this is where she'll hide today, or you could go looking for her. Good luck though, she is a cute pi-," Guv frowned when he got the large guy's full attention before he reevaluated what he was going to say, "She's a cute… kid." Once Riddick nodded Guv thought it was best he go off and let the guy inspect by himself.

Riddick lifted his welders' goggles after Guv started walking off. He then looked the room over again, looking for small details. Anything Jack might have left, and eventually his eyes fell to a thin piece of wire like string tied in front of the door, hardly even noticeable. It led under the sheet hanging off the bed, hiding what was underneath. Of course the sheet wasn't big enough to do the whole job, but there was other stuff bunched around the bed making it hard to see under it. To someone looking in though it wouldn't look too suspicious, maybe just like someone wanted more floor space.

To Riddick though, it did look suspicious.

To Riddick it looked like Jack trying to hide.

Stepping over the string Riddick had to hand it to Jack, if she was under there she had guts. If someone else had been looking for her and noticed, she'd be in trouble. As it was, he was just going to scare her if she wasn't awake… She'd certainly live.

After readying himself for anything that might come flying out from under the bed, he lifted the sheet. It wasn't dramatic, there was no noise, and no big flipping of the sheet, he just moved it up. Then once Riddick peered under he was rewarded with the sight of Jack. She had a shiv clutched in her hand, but she was out…

She looked exhausted, and underfed. Riddick could tell this was the sleep of someone who stayed up for as long as they possibly could, ran on nothing until nothing couldn't cut it. Actually, knowing Jack, if given the chance she'd eventually jump up, afraid that she had missed something because she had drifted off. He'd seen her do it numerous times on the way to New Mecca.

Still, Riddick was going to show her he was there, even if she obviously needed the sleep. He reached under the bed, one hand hovering over the hand she held the shiv with and the other ready to pull her out to him. He paused a second looking her over once more, and then he noticed that the string was tied to her boot, but it looked ready to fall apart, it would break the second he moved her.

Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her from under the bed.

Somewhere in the room the noise of the twine breaking sounded, but it was less pressing then Jack who instantly started to struggle. She elbowed him; she even abandoned the shiv when she found she couldn't get at him with it and just tried to crawl away. It kept up until Jack just… stopped. Jack just stopped moving like something suddenly occurred to her.

Riddick watched as her head moved slightly as she looked at his legs, and the hand that still had her wrist. If it didn't look like the mere sound of his voice would break her he would have said her name. Still after a moment she moved to turn around, and Riddick let her.

Jack nearly buried herself against him, and that was when Riddick realized that she hadn't made a noise. Jack didn't yell when she was trying to get away, and she hadn't said his name when she realized it was him… Not a noise.

"Jack, what happened?" Riddick asked as he tried to gently pull her away from him. When she wouldn't let go though he prodded, "Come on, kid, what's happened since then."

Since then…

Since they parted…

Since Pip…

Jack attempted to pull together something, but she couldn't find the right thing to say, the right words. What did you say after not making a single noise for almost three months? As she hesitantly looked up at Riddick, Jack realized she didn't know what to tell him…

What could she tell him anyway?

_"Tasha was raped and tortured because of me…"_

_"She screamed for me the entire time, hoping I would save her, but I was in space with you…"_

_"They only let her die when she couldn't scream anymore…"_

_"I only stopped begging Pip to shut it off after the third time he played it… then I shut up for good."_

_"I was almost raped because I didn't care, but snapped out of it before the guard put his dick in me…"_

_"I almost fed myself to a hellhound with your eyes…twice; the first time was because they had your eyes…"_

_"I killed seven people since I've been here… One to save my almost non-existing virtue, three to save my life, two to pass the time, and one because I snapped when I found out he'd done a snuff film like Tasha's…"_

_"I can't hate you for any of it…"_

_"I've missed you so much…"_

"Riddick…" Jack cried as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck.


End file.
